Bass Management

A circuit or process that takes all the frequencies below 80Hz (according to the Dolby spec) from the main channels in a surround or stereo mix and the LFE signal and mixes them together into the subwoofer. In other words, Bass Management is the act of placing an electronic bass frequency crossover on all the channels, and redirecting those bass frequencies. Stereo or surround rooms, especially with smaller near field monitors placed on the console, can benefit from the correct integration of Bass Management and a subwoofer. With such, the engineer is now able to hear low frequency anomalies caused by room rumble, microphone stand thumping, breath pops, and other undesirable artifacts. Plus, even the least expensive Dolby Digital consumer decoder, found in millions of homes, has bass management built in, allowing the bass from all channels to be fed to a single subwoofer – which means that control rooms with proper Bass Management will be able to make sure that their mixes translate well into consumer systems.